JAKARTA, July 26 (AFP) - A trial witness has implicated Indonesia's
defence ministry in a forgery ring which churned out 2.1 million dollars
worth of fake local currency notes, a report said Wednesday.

A police witness in the forgery trial at the Central Jakarta District
court testified that one of the defendants had told police questioners
that the defence ministry had provided forgers with the serial numbers for
the counterfeit bills, the Jakarta Post said.

The witness, senior police inspector Umar Faroq, also said that the
same defendant also indicated the involvement of officials in the central
bank and the state mint PT Peruri, the Post said.

Retired army Major Ismail Putra "told the detectives including
myself that he got the numbers from the ministery of defence," the
Post quoted Faroq as telling the court on Tuesday.

Ismail, one of nine defendants in the forgery case, was also alleged to
have said the bank had provided him with six numbers -- FRM, LZN, LZO,
RPM, TWR and YBD -- to be used on the notes.

Faroq also told the court that Ismail had told investigators in March
that it was usual practice for the central bank to disclose the serial
numbers to the ministry.

The inspector also said that during the arrest of another of the
defendants, identified as Junie, at the printing company where the notes
were made, he found records detailing the purchase of ink, paper and other
supplies.

"One entry also states that 10 million rupiah (1,111 dollars) was
paid to the state-owned Perum Peruri since it provided the defendants with
the (bank note) negatives," Faroq said.

The Post quoted a third defendant, Ardy Sukarman, as saying in a
February 25 police report read to the court that Major Ismail had told him
he was representing the defence ministry when he allegedly persuaded
Sukarman to join the counterfeit project.

"Ismail told me that he was ordered by the central bank to carry
out the project, and that as a representative of the ministry of defence,
he was ordered to print money which would be used for the ministry's
operational costs in Aceh," the Post quoted the Sukarman testimony as
saying.

In earlier testimony Ismail had implicated Indonesian army chief of
staff General Tyasno Sudarto in the forgery ring, and said the general had
visited the printing press.

Sudarto later denied the charges and said they were a part of a
campaign to discredit the military.

"Mr. Darto (Sudarto) knew very well that this fake money
production was for the interest of the Indonesian military and ... East
Timor," Ismail told the court on July 11, according to trial reports
carried by the Jakarta Post.

Sudarto was the chief of the Indonesian Military Intelligence
Agencyfrom January 1999 until he was appointed army chief of staff in
November last year.

"He sanctioned the process. The (former) BIA chief also visited
Yustinus Kasminto's house in Palmerah, West Jakarta, where the printing
was done," Ismail told the court then.

The fake money, worth 19.2 billion rupiah (2.1 million dollars) was
produced by the defendants between July last year and February this year,
the court was told.

The counterfeit bills are in 50,000 rupiah denominations, the last
notes in the country bearing the likeness of former president Suharto.

On Monday the government ordered the withdrawal of the "Suharto"
notes.

Bank Indonesia's announcement did not give a reason for the withdrawal
of the notes, but newer versions of the same denominations have since been
issued.

Note: For those who would like to fax "the
powers that be" - CallCenter V3.5.8, is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software
application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge!
Download from http://www.v3inc.com/